Summer's Distant Heart - Laura Landon Page 0,32

Hunter and Miles standing over her.

“Are you alright?” Hunter asked, kneeling beside the chaise where he’d placed her. He took her hand in his and held it.

“Don’t worry, Lia. We won’t let him take George.”

“How are we going to stop him?”

“I can’t say at this moment,” Hunter answered, “but we’ll keep him at bay. We won’t let him find the babe. It’s hard telling to what lengths he’d go to rid the world of the next Trentridge heir. All I know is that he’d never accept a commoner’s son as his heir. I have no doubt he’ll do anything in his power to keep the Trentridge line pure, even if it means something as drastic as ridding the world of his legal heir.”

“What of you?” Miles asked. “What if something were to happen to you? Who would your title go to?”

“A cousin. Winston. Father has always favored him over me.”

“Surely your father would not harm his only son,” Lia said in disbelief.

The smile on Hunter’s face sent a chill down her spine.

“If you think that, you obviously do not know my father. He will do everything in his power when it comes to the Trentridge line.”

Lia moved restlessly on the chaise. “Help me up. I cannot stand to lie down any longer.”

Hunter took her hands and helped her sit, then stand. “When is the last time you had anything to eat?”

Lia shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

“You may not be hungry, but you have to eat. You’ll become ill if you don’t and you’ll be no use to us or the babe.”

“You’re right.” She moved with them into the dining room.

As they ate, Miles tried to keep the conversation neutral. Hunter asked about the events he’d experienced during the war without referring to the more horrendous incidents. When they finished, Hunter’s staff served coffee in the drawing room. Or rather, Lia had coffee while Miles and Hunter had brandy. But nothing seemed able to dull the tension that filled the room, the anxiety lurking just below the surface.

“I think I should go up to check on George. Frannie should be about to put him down for his afternoon nap.”

Hunter and Miles stood when she rose.

“Will you come back down, Lia?” Hunter asked.

“I think I shall. Perhaps I’ll spend the afternoon in the library, if I may.”

“By all means.” Hunter gave a lavish bow. “Feel free to plunder my shelves.”

Lia blushed, then hurried up the stairs. First she walked to the nursery, but it was empty. Frannie must still have little George in her room. It was her habit to let him play there and tire himself out.

She went to Frannie’s room but it was empty, as well.

“Frannie,” she called out, but there was no answer.

“Frannie!” she called again.

She retraced her steps, knowing the young girl had to be somewhere close by. But she found her nowhere.

“Frannie! Frannie!”

Nothing.

Lia ran to the top of the stairs. “Hunt! Hunt! Come quickly!”

. . . .

Hunter heard the terror in Lia’s voice and took the steps two at a time.

“She’s gone, Hunt. Frannie’s gone. And she took George!”

Hunt clasped her by the shoulders and pulled her against him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She trembled so badly he could hardly keep her in his grasp.

Miles came up behind him and raced to the nursery. “She’s not in there,” he said when he returned.

“Search the downstairs and the kitchen,” Hunter said. “Maybe she took George for that porridge she was speaking of.”

“Yes!” Lia said as her brother left to follow Hunter’s orders. “Oh, yes! That’s got to be it.”

“I’m sure, sweetheart,” he said, taking her by the hand to start searching the nearby rooms. But he was afraid that wasn’t what had happened. If it had been, surely Frannie would have heard them calling out for her.

They finished looking in each room on the floor, then went down the stairs.

“She’s not in the kitchen,” Miles said when he reappeared from below stairs. “I have the staff searching every room in the house.”

“Where could she have gone, Hunt? Why would she take him? Why?”

Hunter held her close and rubbed his hand up and down her back. Before he could say anything more, one of the footmen raced in from outside.

“There’s a horse missing from the stables, my lord.”

“No!” Lia cried out. “Why would she do that?”

“To protect him,” Miles answered. “She heard us talking when we said your father had sent men to search for the babe, and if he found George,